HOT Magazine HOT Magazine, Issue 12 Volume 4 | Page 56

L et’s Go

Chang Rai

T

his month’s “Let’s Go” takes us to Chiang
Rai, one of the iconic places to visit in
Thailand. This province is famous for an
array of different reasons, one of which is
its rich past. It is the kind of place avid historians
and curious adventurers love in the same way, so if
you’re one of them or you happen to be both, then
Chiang Rai needs to be added to your bucket list.

For all its history, it is important to know
where this province is located to understand its
prominence. Chiang Rai is just about as far north
as you can go in Thailand. With an elevation of five
hundred metres, it shares borders with two other
countries, Myanmar and Laos, to the north and east.
To its south we see Phayao, in the south western part
we find the province of Lampang and in the west
we find the iconic province of Chiang Mai. Chiang
Rai has different topography across the different
parts of the province, the north and the west
primarily consist of hill tops and rugged terrain,
which comprises much of the Thai highlands, whilst
the east sees flat territory. From the north, we can
appreciate the Doi Tung which translates to “Flag
Hill”, this is one of Chiang Rai’s highest points
at almost a thousand four hundred metres and is
important because of the rich historical monuments
atop it.
But if we are to speak of history, it couldn’t be
more fitting than to start with the origins of its most
distant and fascinating past. It is said that societies
formed in Chiang Rai towards the seventh century
and very quickly became a hub to the Thai Kingdom
of Lanna just six centuries later. The fact that it was
so overly endowed with natural resources attracted
the attention of the Burmese, who would seize
control of it and govern it for over five hundred
years, relinquishing control only towards the end of
the eighteenth century in 1786. The province actually
gained status as such in 1910 when the Lanna
Kingdom was merged into the Kingdom of Thailand
but for some time continued to be a region that was
autonomously managed from the neighbouring
province of Chiang Mai.

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December 15 - January 15 , 2016